The Goat Whisperer

I am writing this from the JFK airport in part because I've always wanted to say I'm a writer writing from an airport in New York City on my way to California. Truth is it's because I'm bored, and I have a two and a half hour layover and can't sleep.

I wanted to write about our friend's goat farm in Clifton Springs, New York. It was our second visit in a year to this farm and I always find it to be such a happy experience. Our friend Jody and Rob have somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 goats ranging in size from a medium sized dog to some that stand four feet at the shoulder.

Jody is a fixture on Facebook with her silly goat pictures. She loves her goats like children and regularly dresses them up or "plays" with them in new and creative ways. I am jealous of her life. Being raised a city-boy, I was never around goats and farm animals, so it's always fun because I love animals.

I bonded with one of the bigger goats named, appropriately enough, Biggie. It seems Biggie likes getting his neck and ears scratched and took a liking to me. It was a weird animal/human connection for a bit. I felt kind of like the Goat Whisperer for a time. I now understand how Jody gets so attached to each of the goats (and the goat kids). They are simple, lovable, but smart, creatures.

Being around these animals for an hour led to some observations.


  • Goats will eat anything. While I was petting one, I had one nibbling on my shorts while another started chewing on my shoe laces. Pulling away was a temporary fix, as they were right back in a few minutes.
  • Goats are like kids. When they see an open door, they all run for it. "Hey, lookit that, the door's open. Everybody out!"
  • They have incredible balance for a hoofed animal.One was perched on a board no more than two inches wide.
  • There's a pecking order among them that's not unlike humans. Every once in a while a couple of them will rear up and head butt each other. Reminds me of some hard headed people I know.
  • They are a playful animal, if given the chance. They like to climb, explore and Jody even had a skateboard out that they could use. When I was crouched down, one put his hooves on my back. Jody said it was because he's used to getting piggy back rides from her. Who knew?
It was a great experience, one that brings your blood pressure down 10 points just by being there. I'm sure we'll get back again sometime, but until then, I'll miss their playful and sometimes annoying personalities. 

Blogging off...

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

National Poetry Month: Issue 18

In a rush, a poem from Richard Brautigan from,  The Pill Versus the Springhill Mine Disaster. A Good-Talking Candle                    by Richard Brautigan I had a good-talking candle last night in my bedroom. I was very tired but I wanted somebody to be with me,    so I lit a candle. and listened to its comfortable voice of light until I was asleep. Blogging off...
Read more

New Chapters

Image
 As many of you know I retired last week after almost 27 years at Waukesha County. It was a bit of a shock to some, in part because I am only 61. Nevertheless I'd given it much thought and talked it through with my family and determined it was time. I wanted to get out while I am healthy and perhaps more specifically just do something different. I am lucky enough to say I've loved my work over the past 37 years. GIS and mapping has been my passion since college and I was fortunate enough to get paid to do something I loved.  I'll be honest, while I looked forward to the date of retirement, I was not looking forward to the celebration. Like my daughter, who is more like me than not, I do not like being in the spotlight. While I've become more comfortable being in front of people in part because of my writing and its related promotion and readings, deep down I'm still an introvert with extrovert flares, as they say. But dreading it as I did, it turned out to be a spec...
Read more

Local Level Need

Image
A week and a half into retirement and I'm here to report that life is good on the other side. I've kept fairly busy so far, in fact when my wife was questioned by friends on "how Jim's retirement is going," she said, "He hasn't sat down." I think I'm still in the manic, must-get-stuff-done mode that happens when people get a week off of work. Gotta cram it all in. Well, I am starting to adjust to the fact that it will all be there tomorrow and next week, and if I don't get to all of it today, it's really okay. It's been a strange adjustment for sure, but one that I am beginning to appreciate more and more.  Before I decided to retire, one of the things I wanted to commit to was a regular stint of volunteer work. When I mentioned it to a friend who works for Frieden's Food Pantry, he suggested I look into helping in one of their four locations. They vary in the number of families that they serve, but they turn over a huge amount o...
Read more